Impregnated and/or coated cloth, filaments, fibers or the like



Jan. 28, 1964 J. R. EHRLICH IMPREGNATED AND/0R COATED CLOTH, FILAMENTS, FIBERS OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 3, 1960 INVENTOR. Joseph R. Ehrlich Maxwell E.Sporro w ATTORNEY.

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United States Patent Ofiice 3,119,714 Patented Jan. 28,1964

3,119,714 IMPREGNATED AND/GR COATED CLGTH, FHLA- MENTS, FlltERl GR THE LlKlE Joseph R. Ehrlich, 1793 Riverside Drive, New York, FLY. Filed Aug. 3, 19th), Ser. No. 47,142 3 Claims. (6131. 117-122) This invention relates generally to improvements in impregnants and/ or coatings and more particularly to its application to and in combination with a base material selected from a group which consists of cloth, filaments and fibers used in the making of cloth.

The term cloth used in this specification and appended claims comprises any textile fabric woven, nonwoven, felted, knitted or otherwise formed from any filament or fiber or plurality of filaments or fibers, including but not limited to thread yarn, monofilaments, ribbons.

In my U 8. Patent No. 2,875,101 I disclosed a coating for wood which gives such coated wood the property of adhering to another piece of wood coated with the same material, when contacted therewith and slight pressure is applied thereupon. This coated wood is not tacky and does not adhere to any other surface but to one of its own kind. Said adhesion, though of considerable strength, is only temporary in the sense that such wooden pieces which adhere to each other can be separated by pulling them apart. The coated wooden pieces do not coalesce and, therefore, do not suffer any surface injury when they are separated. Said Wooden pieces can be adhered to each other under pressure and be separated again a great many times without losing their adhesive property. While the adhesion of said coated wooden pieces to each other is usually used for temporary and/or intermittent bond, the property of being thus pressure adherent is permanent as the coating is solidly bonded to the wood and does not lose said property of self-adherence over a considerably long period.

The coating of said wood consists of natural, unvulcanized rubber interspersed with a water-soluble cellulose ether in certain ratios, as described in detail in my said Patent No. 2,875,101.

While it is an established fact that the coating, described in Patent No. 2,875,101 renders wood permanently self-adherent to each other for temporary or intermittent bond, it does not permanently convey the same property to other absorbent or fibrous material. Cardboard, paper, cloth, and similar materials, when coated with the wood-coating material, retain this self-adhering property to each other only over a relatively short period, and also to a considerably less degree than wood. While the self-adhering wooden pieces retain these properties over a period of several years, other fibrous materials retain such property only -for days. Likewise, it takes several times more strength to pull such self-adhering wooden pieces apart than it takes to pull such self-adhering pieces of cardboard, paper or cloth apart, even after they havebeen freshly coated with the same type of coating used on wood.

The present invention is an improvement over the aforementioned type of self-adhering coating which improvement is admirably adapted to be used to impregnate and/ or coat cloth, such as textiles, woven or non-woven fabrics, knitwear, yarns, monofilaments, etc. While this improved impregnation and/ or coating material renders said cloth permanently self-adhering for intermittent bond, it does not make paper permanently self-adhering to a sufficient degree. Paper coated with this improved coating material will stay somewhat longer self-adherent than a paper coated with the wood coating described in Patent No. 2,875,101, and will then lose most, though not all of its self-adhering properties; whatever self-adherence characteristic remains on the surface of the paper is insuificient for any practical purpose. The improved coating, according to the present invention, can be applied to wood and will make the coated wood permanently self-adherent; however, the coating on wood is inferior to the one described in Patent No. 2,875,101 because it leaves the wood tacky to the touch. In contrast to the results obtained with wood and paper, the new, improved coating material gives excellent results when applied to cloth, filaments and fibers. Such, when coated and/ or impregnated with the hereindescr-ibed and claimed improved impregnant are substantially nontacky to the touch, do not adhere when slightly pressed together to any other surface but to one of its own kind and to coated wood made in accordance with Patent No. 2,876,101.

Such impregnated and/ or coated cloth is permanently flexible with good draping qualities, adhere to each other when pressed together and can be separated by pulling apart without suffering any damage. Such procedure can be repeated over and over again without the cloth, filament, fibers, etc. losing said property; the natural appearance thereof, such as color, gloss, texture, etc. remains unchanged by the impregnation and/ or coating and the impregnated and/or coated cloth, etc. do not look any different to the eye =from the non-treated material.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a self-adhering, non-coalescing impregnant or coating for cloth, as well as filaments, yarns, threads and monofilaments, whereby said treated articles can be strongly adhered to each other under slight pressure and can be separated again a multiplicity of times without losing their adhesive characteristic, and which coating and/or impregnation will not adhere to any other surface but to one of its own kind or that described in Patent No. 2,875,101.

It is a further object of the present invention to combine a base material selected from a group which consists of cloth, fibers and filaments with a solidly-bonding, permanently flexible, non-tacky, self-adhering, noncoalescin g coatingwhich has relatively long self-adhesive life, and possesses the property. and characteristic of having substantially no adhesive afiinity for other surfaces except those of its own kind or that described in Patent No. 2,875,101, and of causing such articles to adhere when slightly pressed together and to be separated and re-adhered a great number of times without causing impairment or injury to said coating.

A still turther and more specific object of the present invention is to provide an article of manufacture comprising a cloth impregnated or coated with a coating or impregnant which renders the article substantially nontacky to the touch, non-coalescing, non-adhesive to surfaces other than those of its own kind or that described in Patent No. 2,875,101 which is of the same family exhibiting the same properties, and which will not impair the flexibility of the article.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description progresses, it being understood, however, that it is not intended that the invention be limited to the exact details, proportions or ingredients described herein which illustrate production of a satisfactory example of many which may be obtained as a result of the knowledge gained through or gleaned from an understanding of the invention, and it is {urther intended that there be included as part of the invention all such obvious changes and modifications thereof as would occur to a person skilled in the art to which this invention pertains and as would fall within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing, the numeral 10 generally indicates a piece of material such as cloth, fabric or the like composed of filaments, fibers or the like, impregnated or coated with self-adhering impregnant or coating, according to the invention. The coatings are generally indicated by numerals 11 and 12, respectively. The drawing indicates one example of application, for instance, tacking down portions of the material 10 to form folds or pleats. The coatings being self-adhering (yet non-coalescing, non-tacky), portion 1811 may be folded down along the fold line F against another portion of material 18 and adhesively pressed thereagainst. Portion 18b may be then folded down in the opposite direction along the fold line Pa and against a contiguous part of portion 18a and adhesively pressed thereagainst. These adhesively pressed portions may be separated by pulling from their respective contiguous portions of material 10, Without damage to the coating or material.

The new and improved impregnant or coating, according to the present invention comprises a hydrophobic natural, unvulcanized rubber base interspersed with a hydrophilic water-soluble cellulose ether, a film forming tackifier and a humectant. Said impregnant or coating is applied dispersed in a water phase and may contain in its dry, Water-free form from substantially 48 to 62 parts of natural, unvulcanized rubber, from substantially 3.4 to parts water-soluble cellulose ether, from substantially 13 to 17 parts of a film-forming tackifier, and from substantially 20 to 29 parts of a humectant. All parts are by weight.

A practical example is as follows:

Step N0. I.Pour 10.35 parts water (90 C.) over 1.15 parts methylcellulose l5 cps.; soak overnight; then add 20 parts cold water (20 C. or less) and stir.

Step N0. II.Dilute 8.11 parts methyl polyvinyl ether (50% water solution) with 28.88 parts cold Water and stir.

Stir solution of Step No. I into 24.75 parts unvulcanized natural rubber latex (62.5% solids); then add solution of Step No. II under stirring.

Step No. [IL-Finally add 6.76 parts propylene glycol under stirring. All parts are per weight.

The resulting dispersion consists of:

Methylcellulose ether 1.15 Natural rubber latex (62.5% solids) 24.75 Water 59.23 Propylene glycol 6.76 50% methyl polyvinyl ether solution in water 8.11

Percent Methyl polyvinyl ether 14.85 Unvulcanized, natural rubber 56.22 Methyl cellulose ether 4.21

Propylene glycol 24.72

In place of propylene glycol, there can be used other humectants, such as diethylene glycol, glycerin, and many other water-soluble polyglycols, sorbitol, etc.

In place of the methyl polyvinyl ether, there can be used as a film forming tackifier a water dispersion of ethyl polyvinyl ether, isobutyl polyvinyl ether or decanol polyvinyl ether, all dissolved in toluene, or a water dispersion polyisobutylene. In making such substitutions I would have to vary the percentages of the components of the impregnating liquid accordingly so as to stay within the limits of the operative ratios of the components in the dry film, after all evaporable solvents have disappeared.

The impregnated and/ or coated textiles can be used in sample or model making of dresses, garments, hats, etc. for temporary decorations of show windows, on the stage, for packages, etc. for toys and many other uses and purposes.

Such impregnated and/ or coated cloth, fabrics, filaments, etc. take on any given shape, hold together in any form, shape, combination, such as pleats, bows, etc., which otherwise would have to be stitched, pinned, tied, sealed or glued together, thus saving material and considerable time in arranging, re-arranging, assembling and disassembling.

I claim:

1. In an article of manufacture comprising a base material consisting of fibrous material containing essentially textile fibers and a flexible, non-tacky, non-coalescing coating thereon rendering said article self-adhering in such way that under slight pressure articles with such coatings will adhere to each other upon application of slight pres sure without coalescing of the coatings and which can be separated by pulling without damage to the coatings and which procedure can be repeated at great many times and retain this property for a relatively long period and which said coating will not adhere to any surface other than of its own kind and surfaces of the same family exhibiting the same property, said coating being such that it will not change the appearance of said fibrous base; said coating consisting essentially of a hydrophobic, natural, unvulcanized rubber base interspersed with a hydrophilic, water-soluble cellulose ether, the unvulcanized rubber of said rubber base being from substantially 48 parts to 62 parts by weight of the coating, said water-soluble cellulose ether being from substantially 3.4 to 5 parts by weight of the coating, a film-forming tackifier taken from the group consisting of polyvinyl ether and .polyisobutylene from substantially 13 to 17 parts by weight of the coating, and a humectant from substantially 20 to 29 parts by weight of the coating.

2. In an article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein the film-forming tackifier is methyl polyvinyl ether.

3. In an article of manufacture, according to claim 1, wherein said water-soluble cellulose ether is water-soluble methyl cellulose ether.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,697,048 Secrist Dec. 14, 1954 2,697,084 Eger Dec. 14, 1954 2,858,282 Fairclough Oct. 28, 1958 2,875,101 Ehrlich Feb. 24, 1959 2,880,184 Groves et a1 Mar. 31, 1959 

1. IN AN ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE COMPRISING A BASE MATERIAL CONSISTING OF FIBROUS MATERIAL CONTAINING ESSENTIALLY TEXTILE FIBERS AND A FLEXIBLE, NON-TACKY, NON-COALESCING COATING THEREON RENDERING SAID ARTICLE SELF-ADHERING IN SUCH WAY THAT UNDER SLIGHT PRESSURE ARTICLES WITH SUCH COATINGS WILL ADHERE TO EACH OTHER UPON APPLICATION OF SLIGHT PRESSURE WITHOUT COALESCING OF THE COATINGS AND WHICH CAN BE SEPARATED BY PULLING WITHOUT DAMAGE TO THE COATINGS AND WHICH PROCEDURE CAN BE REPEATED A GREAT MANY TIMES AND RETAIN THIS PROPERTY FOR A RELATIVELY LONG PERIOD AND WHICH SAID COATING WILL NOT ADHERE TO ANY SURFACE OTHER THAN OF ITS OWN KIND AND SURFACES OF THE SAME FAMILY EXHIBITING THE SAME PROPERTY, SAID COATING BEING SUCH THAT IT WILL NOT CHANGE THE APPEARANCE OF SAID FIBROUS BASE; SAID COATING CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A HYDROPHOBIC, NATURAL UNVULCANIZED RUBBER BASE INTESPERSED WITH A HYDROPHILIC, WATER-SOLUBLE CELLULOSE ETHER, THE UNVULCANIZED RUBBER OF SAID RUBBER BASE BEING FROM SUBSTANTIALLY 48 PARTS OT 62 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF THE COATING, SAID WATER-SOLUBLE CELLULOSE ETHER BEING FROM SUBSTANTIALLY 3.4 TO 5 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF THE COATING, A FILM-FORMING TACKIFIER TAKEN FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF POLYVINYL ETHER AND POLYISOBUTYLENE FROM SUBSTANTIALLY 13 TO 17 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF THE COATING, AND A HUMECTANT FROM SUBSTANTIALLY 20 TO 29 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF THE COATING. 